Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

This was at the Tata Steel Chess India 2024 rapid and blitz event in Kolkata last week. The spectator turnout was a talking point. The auditorium accommodating around 550 was full and there were people seated on the staircase. These were mostly schoolchildren, who also learn chess, and their parents. The real consumers of the game, in other words. It was an autograph day as well. Magnus Carlsen skipped the session, but there were others. In the rush to get signatures, someone said that Viswanathan Anand was there too. The five-time world champion was not a participant in the competition.…

An Indian heads into the World Chess Championship final as the favourite. He is 18. His rival, the reigning champion, is 32. These are unreal circumstances, yet true. D Gukesh is the top dog in the battle to be fought in Singapore from November 25 against China’s Ding Liren. That’s because current everything — ratings, world rankings, performances — is pointed towards the Indian. It’s a bit unusual. When Viswanathan Anand competed at this stage of this competition, he was perhaps the favourite in his clashes against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Israel’s Boris Gelfand. Not before that. He was…

Usually, in a world championship duel, the defending champion is the favourite. In the upcoming chess battle of supremacy, it is going to be different. Defending champion Ding Liren of China is the underdog. Favourite is the 18-year-old D Gukesh of India. This means the weight of expectations is more on him. Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand are among the ones who reckon Gukesh has an edge. The first-ever clash of this stature featuring two Asians will take place in Singapore from November 25 to December 13. Not many such finals had generated this kind of frenzy in the build-up.…

Magnus Carlsen earned the rare feat of clinching both titles in the men’s section of the Tata Steel Chess India 2024 rapid and blitz tournament, which got over in Kolkata on Sunday. Having won the rapid crown two days earlier, the Norwegian sealed the blitz title with a comfortable margin of 1.5 points. Russian Kateryna Lagno won the women’s blitz championship by half a point. Carlsen, the World No. 1 in all three formats, had drawn two and lost one of his games on the first day of blitz a day earlier. On the final day, he drew five of…

The Team Being one of the relatively inexperienced franchises, Lucknow Super Giants have not done badly in their three years in the Indian Premier League. They have not reached the final yet, but qualifying for the playoffs and finishing third on both occasions in 2022 and 2023 can’t be called bad. However, what perhaps pricked their pride was the seventh-place finish in 2024. They won seven and lost seven of their 14 matches, which was not enough. This is an ambitious team. They believe they can do better than they have so far. There are indications that the team owners…

The royal presence of Magnus Carlsen, his defeat against India’s Arjun Erigaisi in Round 8 of the blitz event and R Praggnanandhaa moving to second place following six straight wins — there were many highlights on the penultimate day of the Tata Steel Chess India 2024 rapid and blitz competition. For yet another day in the event in Kolkata, spectator interest remained a talking point. The auditorium which seats around 550 was almost full for the second day running. Mostly school children who play chess and their parents were in attendance. In chess, the crowd isn’t permitted to speak or…

What was the most standout quality, which helped India win the 2020-21 series that Australia looked like running away with after the first Test? Other than everything else — courage to bounce back, belief in own abilities to attack the opposition, finding the right men for the right moments and a touch of luck — the fightback from 36 all out was also characterised by a steady show of grit. It’s difficult to point at an individual and say that he was the prime inspirational figure. A lot of them contributed and these efforts were not always numerically eye-catching. There…

My first glimpse of Virat Kohli came in Agartala. It was during the knockout stages of the national one-day championship for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This was early 2009. He had played five ODIs by then, but was yet to score big. However, he came to the Vijay Hazare knockouts with four centuries in the zonal phase. He made another in the capital city of Tripura. About a year earlier, Aakash Chpora had told me that this youngster was going to become the next big thing from Delhi. Chopra’s assessment was based on the extraordinary powers of application shown by…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Mumbai Sitting in the dugout, Gautam Gambhir tried to remain expressionless as India continued losing wickets during their futile chase of 147 in the third Test against New Zealand. The head coach didn’t betray a lot of emotions when the team slipped to defeats in the first two Tests either. His face remained firm and he was never seen barking at his players during those embarrassing moments. Known for his feisty nature during his playing days, Gambhir has to take some tough calls soon enough. Or else, he might just find himself at the other end of…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Mumbai “Is this Test cricket?” spectators at a packed Wankhede Stadium started wondering after India lost their fifth wicket in the eighth over. “Test match khelna bhul gaye sab log (these guys have forgotten how to play Test cricket),” murmured others. “Send them back to Kanga League.” These were the refrains as India crashed to their most embarrassing series defeat on home soil in history. Ignoring the heat and humidity — this was the warmest October in several parts of the country after 1951 — the fans turned out in numbers in Mumbai. Tickets come for a…